The initial test results for the remaining fighters on each show, however, indicate that there are more positive results forthcoming. CSAC Assistant Executive Officer Bill Douglas told MMAWeekly.com that, “Both cards are not out of the woods yet.”

He would not identify any of the individuals involved, nor would he indicate how many individuals were involved, but did indicate that initial testing of the remaining fighters’ “A” samples returned more positive results.

Douglas said that the earliest that confirmed results will be released is August 11.

Of the results that have come back for the Affliction card so far, only Justin Levens has tested positive. He tested positive for oxymorphone, the same painkiller that James Irvin tested positive for following UFN 14. The other fighters whose drug screens have come back clean from Affliction are as follows: Vitor Belfort, Terry Martin, Paul Buentello, Mike Pyle, J.J. Ambrose, Gary Goodridge, and Ray Lazama. Eight fighters from EliteXC have also had negative drug screens come back: Brandon Tarn, Drew Montgomery, Mike Cook, Carl Seumanutafa, Marlon Mathias, David Douglas, Jeromy Freitag, and Anthony Ruiz.

As you can see, there are lots of big names left out there whose drug screens could come back positive. Every person listed above whose drug screen has already come back was on the undercard of each of these shows. It will be very interesting to see the fallout from the positive drug screens, especially if the names are bigger than we think.

According to the release, UFC 84 outdrew “Saturday Night Fights” in the male 18-34 demo by 27% with Spike totaling 433,00 men compared to CBS’ 341,000.

Spike is also touting the fact that compared to last Saturday’s live broadcast of UFC Fight Night 14 featuring Anderson Silva, the UFC outdrew EliteXC by 165% in the male 18-34 demographic and by 21% in total viewership.

The press release took a very surreal turn, with Spike comparing the drop in EliteXC’s second CBS show from the first show to the XFL on NBC. The release even went so far as to say the first CBS show featured “the ‘He Hate Me’ of MMA, Kimbo Slice.”

I say that the prose is surreal because while Spike TV and CBS are operated by different subsidiaries that trade under different ticker symbols on the New York Stock Exchange, they still belong to the same parent company.

Five Ounces of Pain has received many ratings bulletins over the past year and a half and we’ve never seen one written in such a contentious manner. It’s obvious that the UFC has a strong and loyal partner in Spike and that they aren’t taking competition lightly.

But the numbers don’t lie and while “Saturday Night Fights” showed improvement across the board when it comes to production and matchmaking, the ratings weren’t strong. Granted, nobody was expecting the second show to match the first show, but being beaten by a basic cable channel in a key demo during an airing of a taped MMA broadcast where the results are readily available is not good.

The lesson here is one we already knew: casual viewers want to see stars. It doesn’t matter how good your fight card is, the masses want recognizable names. Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, Jake Shields, and Nick Diaz all have a strong following that no doubt increased following the exposure they received this past Saturday. But are they stars? Maybe they will be one day but building new stars takes time.

People can say whatever they want about Kimbo Slice, but he has the aura of a star. Even people that had no idea who he was identified him as a star because of his look and because of his unique back story. And Gina Carano may have trouble making weight but she also has the “it” factor.

With Kimbo and Carano set to return on Oct. 4 in Miami, I see the show being a ratings success. However, there is a major issue of what to do when CBS wants a show and Kimbo and Gina aren’t available that has to be addressed.

If CBS wants a fourth show in a time frame in which Kimbo and Gina won’t be ready, then Frank Shamrock has to be the headliner. As great as he’s done as an announcer, he still has plenty of box office potential and knows how to promote and market his fights. Hypothetically speaking, if CBS wants to do a show in Dec., they should look into a main event of Shamrock vs. Robbie Lawler for the EliteXC middleweight title.

EliteXC should also make it a priority to get Eddie Alvarez out there. Alvarez has star potential thanks to an exciting fighting style. He also has credibility with the hardcores following his strong run during DREAM’s lightweight Grand Prix.

Robbie Lawler sealed the deal this time around.

Lawler looked to be the better fighter in the first outing and I had the fight scored in favor of him until the stoppage the first time, but he sealed the deal last knight with a knee right to Smith’s ribs that sent the challenger to the floor and eventually led to a stoppage. The first time around, it’s hard to tell who would have won. But last night it was clear that Lawler was not going to let things get out of hand, especially after he was cut. As we look toward the future, it’s hard to say who Lawler will fight next in the middlweight division. After Murilo Rua’s devastation of Tony Bonello back in May, I have to think that Rua may be in line to take another crack at Lawler and try to win back the EliteXC title that was once his.

Jake Shields is extremely underrated.

Nick Thompson is one of the best welterweights in the entire world and Jake Shields made him look like a punk last night. I mean, Shields finished Thompson with a one arm guillotine from the mount. One arm, people. His other arm was posted on the mat. That’s extremely impressive against a fighter the caliber of Nick Thompson. I have Shields ranked as the #3 welterweight in the world in my rankings that I submit to WAMMA every month and last night he validated that high of a spot in the rankings. He may very well be the best fighter on EliteXC’s entire roster. When you make great competition look like child’s play, you’re not working with a level playing field. Shields doesn’t get a whole lot of play because he’s not in the one organization that really matters, the UFC, but he is without a doubt one of the top three or five welterweights in the world. It’s time to start giving the man his credit.

Nick Diaz did what he was supposed to do.

Thomas Denny was a game opponent but he was just overmatched by Diaz’s overall game. It’s dangerous to put Diaz on his back because of his jiu jitsu game but it’s also dangerous to stand with him because of his reach and his boxing skills. Denny is sort of a tailor made opponent for Diaz and Diaz took advantage of it. If you’re a Diaz fan you had to be a little worried by the way the fight started out but once things settled down and Diaz got into his zone, the fight was all but over. Denny was so gassed at the end of the first round that you almost knew when he came out for the second that the fight was all but over. Diaz did what he was supposed to do: win in his hometown, establish himself on national television, and now I’m sure we’ll see him taking on K.J. Noons in the near future for the EliteXC lightweight title. That could very well happen in October at the next CBS show.

Let’s see Cris Cyborg take on Gina Carano.

You want to talk about fireworks? That’s a fight that will produce them. What Mrs. Cyborg did to Shayna Baszler last night was very impressive. Baszler is more known for her grappling than her standup but she was never able to get Cris to the ground and keep it there. And while they were standing, Cyborg dominated with the relentless Chute Boxe style that we’ve seen time and time again from fighters like Wanderlei Silva, Maurico Rua, and her husband, Cyborg Santos. Baszler is, by far, one of the best women fighters in the land but she was unable to do much against the overwhelming style of Cris Cyborg, especially when Cyborg stuffed most of her takedown attempts. I know Kelly Kobold is being talked about as Carano’s next opponent, but after last night’s showing, it’s evident that a fight with Cris Cyborg would not only be exciting, but would be another great test for EliteXC’s golden girl.

Overall, I enjoyed the show quite a bit and have to give it a B+ rating. I thought getting rid of the dancing girls was a huge plus, the pacing of the show was much better than last time, and the fights were exciting and fast paced. A solid effort from CBS and EliteXC, but the real question will be how much of America actually watched it.

Many mistakes were made during the first telecast but all indications are that CBS, SHOWTIME, and EliteXC have learned from them. ProElite chairman Doug DeLuca has promised a tighter production that will make for a better overall show and on paper that appears to be the case. The only thing left now is the execution.

While the production and pacing of the show are expected to be better, many consider the matchups themselves to be more intriguing than the first show. The May 31 card was designed with first round knockouts in mind but this time around the lineup will feature better all-around fighters such as Shayna Baszler, Jake Shields, Nick Thompson, and Nick Diaz. That’s right, the casual viewer might actually get to see some jiu-jitsu this time around!

The festivities will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on SHOWTIME, with a three bout appetizer that could be very entertaining. It’s hard not to be excited about a show that will feature Wilson Reis, Rafael Feijao, and Antonio Silva.

It’s the SHOWTIME portion of the show where we’ll kick off our seven fight preview, followed by our four fight preview of the CBS portion.

Wilson Reis vs. Bryan Caraway

Wilson Reis has four wins, all by submission. Bryan Caraway has nine wins, all by submission. So where is this fight going to be contested?

How about on the feet?

I fully expect both of these guys to try and stand with each other during the early portion of the fight in an attempt to see if a weakness can be exploited.

The problem is that Caraway is 5’8’’ and Reis is 5’6’’. Reis will simply be giving up too much reach. Eventually this fight will have to go to the ground where Reis’ superior athleticism will take over.

That’s not to suggest that Caraway is a bad athlete. In fact, he’s a good one, having wrestled in college. He is also determined and hungry, as both he and girlfriend Meisha Tate live in a R.V. parked in trainer Dennis “Superman” Hallman’s backyard.

However, Reis is just on a different level and is a very determined fighter as well. He mentioned during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference that his goal is to fight for a 140 lbs. title in EliteXC. He’s in the driver’s seat for that title shot, but in order to stay there, he has to keep winning.

I’m predicting Reis to win via submission in the middle of round three.

Rafael Feijao vs. Travais Galbraith

Since losing to Kazuhiro Nakamura, Travais (pronounced “Travis”) Galbraith has made tremendous strides in his jiu-jitsu game. However, is his ground game good enough to match up with the bigger and stronger Feijao?

To date, we haven’t really seen Feijao’s ground game, but it’s there and it’s top notch. Remember, this is a guy who was discovered by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira when Nogueira was in his hometown on business and asked locals who they recommended he roll with.

Feijao’s Muay Thai is why he’s 6-1, but he was a grappler before he was a striker.

Galbraith is tough and believes he has a gameplan to beat Feijao. It wouldn’t be surprising for him to try and give Feijao a taste of his own medicine by trying to apply strong pressure early on and put Feijao on the defensive for a change. But Feijao is bigger, stronger, and faster.

Galbraith, the King of the Cage Canadian light heavyweight champion took this fight on short notice, which is another problem for him. No matter how good your gameplan is, it’s hard to implement it against an opponent like Feijao if you haven’t had the benefit of a full training camp.

In the end, Galbraith will be no different than John Doyle and Wayne Cole: good fighters who got TKO’d in round one by Feijao.

Justin Eilers vs. Antonio Silva for the vacant EliteXC heavyweight title

Considering all the heat Justin Eilers takes from hardcore MMA fans, I’m beginning to feel sorry for the guy.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: his stint in the UFC several years ago was terrible. However, since that time he’s won 10 of 11 fights. And he’s been winning because he’s become a better fighter. The Justin Eilers we’ll see on Saturday is not the same guy we saw in the UFC. Eilers now fights tactically and has improved as an all-around fighter.

Antonio Silva is coming off a disappointing performance against Ricco Rodriguez from this past February’s “Street Certified.” But a lot of that can be blamed on two things: first, Rodriguez was a matchup stylistically for Silva. And second, Silva’s knee was in bad shape. He let everyone know about it after the fight but the injury was much more severe than he let own. In fact, Silva probably should have pulled out of the fight.

While I don’t believe Eilers is the tomato can so many people have labeled him as, he’s still a fighter that will be giving up 35-40 pounds on fight night and one that does not have the ground credentials to match up with Silva on the mat.

Silva is probably just as quick as Eilers and will have more power in his punches. I see Silva knocking down Eilers in the second round and then following him to the ground, where he’ll finish with a rear naked choke.

CBS Saturday Night Fights

Cristiane Cyborg vs. Shayna Baszler

This is the fight I am looking forward to the most. I have seen so much of Cristiane Cyborg on YouTube and in watching her, I see the female version of Wanderlei Silva. She is powerful, quick, and aggressive.

But unlike Silva, Cyborg is also untested. Her first win came against Vanessa Porto, who is a highly-respected fighter. However, Cyborg was clearly the bigger fighter yet was unable to finish her. After the Porto fight, she accumulated wins against inexperienced fighters.

In this fight, I’m not sure how much of a size advantage she’ll have. In her videos, she looks huge, like someone who fights at 150. However, seeing her in person at the pre-fight press conference, she looked like a fighter that didn’t need to cut to 140 pounds.

Cyborg’s striking is what has gotten so many hardcore fans exciting. But she’s also a purple belt under Cristiano Marcello at Chute Boxe. That said, I still believe Baszler will have the advantage on the ground. Cyborg relies heavily on her strength when the fight goes to the mat while Baszler is a technical wizard who is constantly mixing in unconventional submission attempts.

Baszler has a distinct advantage on the ground, but she needs to get the fight there quickly in order to have a chance to win. Her standup is solid, but she doesn’t want to get into a striking war with Cyborg.

I see Baszler taking a ton of punishment in this one but in the end, her technical superiority will prevail. I believe she’ll win via third round submission in yet another female fight that steals the show.

Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson for the EliteXC welterweight title

Both fighters are similar in a lot of ways: two former college wrestlers who have good jiu-jitsu with striking skills that have made tremendous strides in the past few years.

But in every category, I see Shields as having the advantage. His wrestling is better. His jiu-jitsu is better. And his Muay Thai is better.

This will be a strong fight because Thompson is no joke and will hang. However, at a certain point, Shields will be able to pull away and take control.

The one thing to watch out for is the size difference. I’m not so sure that Shields couldn’t compete at 155 pounds if he wanted to. As for Thompson, after he re-hydrates, he could weigh as much as 195 lbs., which is insane.

Thompson could pull off the upset if he catches Shields in the right spot with a punch, but I don’t see that happening and I see Shields winning via third round TKO (ground and pound).

Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny

This is a huge opportunity for Thomas Denny, who has been fighting for close to ten years now and has never broken out on the national scene. He’s been in some big fights in Japan, but he’s never fought under such a big spotlight before.

Added attention is not something that will have an effect on the charismatic Denny. However, Diaz’s superior ground skills and boxing skills will be two factors that in the end will be too much for Denny to overcome.

Despite the fact that these two California-based fighters have been scheduled to fight each other two previous times, I didn’t get the sense that there is much of a grudge that exists between the two.

Denny has been extremely vocal about Diaz not being on weight for his June 14 fight against Muhsin Corbbrey, but those words likely motivated Diaz to make sure his weight was where it needed to be. In seeing Diaz as the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, he looked like a fighter who didn’t need to cut much, if at all, to make 160.

Anytime you have Diaz in California, you’re never certain he’s going to be able to fight. However, he looks healthy, focused, and on weight so I have little doubt that this fight is going to go off. And when it does, Diaz will prove to be too much for Denny and he will win via second round submission.

Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith for the EliteXC middleweight title

While speaking at the press conference yesterday, Robbie Lawler addressed the media simply by saying “Weigh-ins are tomorrow at 2 p.m., I’m happy to be here.” And that was it. Lawler really does not like all of the pomp and circumstance that is attached to big fights. He just loves to fight.

Scott Smith is also someone who enjoys fighting and that is a big reason why the two had such a strong fight in their first encounter on May 31.

The initial bout between the two was ramping up to be a true classic until it had its legs chopped from underneath when Lawler hit Smith with an accidental eye poke.

The two now have a chance to vie for “Fight of the Year” honors by adding the conclusive finish that the action-packed first chapter lacked.

In that fight, Smith clearly won round two after losing round one. However, in round three, Lawler started to pull away and it looked as if Smith was on the verge of being finished. As good as Smith looked at times during the fight, it was still painfully obvious that Lawler was the better fighter.

It was just less than two months ago when these two last fought and I don’t see anything changing in that time that is going to make a huge difference. As such, I see a rematch on Saturday that will look eerily similar to the first fight with the major difference being that Lawler wins this time via third round TKO.

Edwards had been rumored to be fighting Kyle Bradley on EliteXC’s upcoming ShoXC card on January 25 in Atlantic City, but a potential bout against Bradley never came to fruition and Bradley is now believed to be headed to the UFC.

Berto, 13-4-1, has not fought in EliteXC since a third round knockout against K.J. Noons in the main event of July’s ShoXC event.

He’s since has two fights for the Florida-based Real Fighting Championships, winning both bouts via unanimous decision.

Edwards, 32-13-1, was once considered one of the top lightweight fighters in the world. He began to lose that reputation after suffering a split decision loss against Joachim Hansen during PRIDE’s Bushido 9 in September of 2005. Including the loss to Hansen, he would go on to lose five out of his next six fights.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS BLOG ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

If you were looking for a no-frills, meat and potatoes MMA show then I don’t see how you could have an issue with last night’s telecast of ShoXC.

I was thoroughly impressed with last night’s show from top to bottom. Pro Elite did a great job of booking new talent and making strong matchups for them so that they could show their skills. I don’t think there was a bad match on the card.

I thought that the announcing was top notch. It was the first time that Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros had ever worked together but you wouldn’t know it by listening to them. It sounded like they were old friends that had been broadcasting shows together for years. For my money, they are the best announce team out there even after only doing one show. I’m looking forward to them working together more in the future.

I also couldn’t help but notice that Gary Shaw didn’t come into the cage after any of the matches. Not even after the main event, which featured two EliteXC fighters. I applaud him for taking a step back and letting the fighters have their moment.

Here are my thoughts, match-by-match…

Muhsin Corbbrey vs. Lee Gibson - Solid match. It seemed to pick up steam as time went on. The two wanted to feel each other out (Corbbrey more so than Gibson) and perhaps that’s because these guys have been flying under the radar and there simply isn’t much footage out there. Corbbrey is a cerebral  fighter and it appeared that he didn’t like facing a guy he didn’t know much about. It also looked like he was getting frustrated when he couldn’t find a glaring weakness to exploit.

I like Corbbrey’s athleticism and his hand speed. It also looked like he was tough to hit from an extended distance. His boxing was top notch and he was quick enough to use a lot of head fakes and shoulder movement without setting himself to be caught with a kick or a knee. Not everyone can incorporate basic fundamental boxing into their MMA game like that.

Gibson just seemed like a dude that was tough as nails. It was obvious to me early in the fight that Corbbrey wasn’t going to be able to finish him.

I’d love to see both of them brought back for future shows.

Jefferson Silva vs. Aaron Rosa - Wow, did I really call Silva a prospect? It was a good stoppage, as he took some nasty elbows. But even before he ate those elbows it seemed as though Rosa broke his will. Those grimaces when he was getting hit in bottom position were ridiculous. You really can’t show that type of pain to an opponent or a referee.

Rosa was the most impressive fighter of the night, in my eyes. I wasn’t sure about his perfect record because he hasn’t fought any top guys. But he’s a rugged guy who enjoys fighting and at only 24 years of age, I think he has a bright future. EliteXC should sign him to a deal if they haven’t already.

Scott Jorgenson vs. Chris David – David fought with a lot of heart but Jorgenson was just too much for him. Next to Rosa, Jorgenson was the second most impressive fighter. I don’t know what EliteXC has planned for the 135 lbs. division, but whatever plans they have, Jorgenson will obviously need to be a big part of it. He also seems pretty marketable.

Jaime Jara vs. Jeremiah Metcalf - Jara’s standup wasn’t pretty but it was effective. He deserves a lot of credit for taking the fight on such short notice  and cutting weight. He deserves even more credit for agreeing to defend his 185 lbs. title while fighting at 175 lbs.  Middleweight means you fight at 185 lbs. and if I was in his shoes, maybe I would have taken the fight but I would had at least said that if they want the title to be on the line, then Metcalf needs to make my weight in order to compete for my title.  But Jara is 37-years old and I’m sure he realized the value of being about to get exposure as a champion.

It’s really hard to form any kind of solid opinion of Metcalf because the fight didn’t last long. I know he’s a very tactical fighter, so perhaps the fact that he didn’t have time to scout his opponent hurt him. Hopefully we’ll get to see Metcalf vs. Aaron Wetherspoon rescheduled for the next ShoXC in August.

K.J. Noons vs. Edson Berto - I’m not buying all the talk that Berto’s conditioning was off. There’s no way his father would let him get away with that. I think he got hurt in the first round and continued fighting when maybe he shouldn’t have. I think he definitely suffered a concussion early on. Not only was he winded but it looked like he was just out of it in the second and third rounds. He had a hard time focusing on Noons.  He’s just a much better fighter than what he showed.

I got the prediction for the fight wrong (I went 2 out of 5. Man, I suck. I want to stop doing predictions) but I knew Noons was no joke. I had been taking some flak for touting the guy but you saw just how crisp and fluid his boxing and Muay Thai is.

His ground game from a defensive perspective was good, but he needs to learn how to be able to go on the offensive. I think he’s way off base thinking he can train both boxing and MMA and still reach his full potential. Maybe when he’s mastered everything, I might agree with him. However, boxing reinforces a lot of fundamental bad habits when it comes to MMA standup.

I can understand an MMA guy who comes from a ground background trying to train boxing to improve his hand speed, footwork, defensive skills, learn to work angles, and just get used to taking punches. But Noons already has a lot of the standup basics down.

I guess Shaw doesn’t mind it because he’s a boxing and MMA promoter and the moon lighting could pay dividends from a marketing perspective. But do you think Dana White would let a young fighter try and pursue two full-time fighting careers? He doesn’t even want Kurt Angle to wrestle.

Alright, I’m out because I need to head up to North Jersey to see more young MMA fighters who could be breaking big soon. Matt Makowski from Philly MMA and Wilson Reis from Philly MMA/BJJ United are both making their pro debuts for Ed Hsu’s Combat in the Cage/Extreme Challenge show. I’ve trained with both briefly (and I mean I sparred with Matt for a round once last summer and took one of Wilson’s BJJ classes) in the past so I’m looking forward to it.

BTW, I’m going to be going to East Rutherford this Thursday to cover the IFL semifinals for CBS Sportsline. If you’re reading this and will be attending and want to meet up, drop me a line at SCaplan8@comcast.net.

ShoXC is patterned after Showtime’s boxing series ShoBox, which has been a springboard for the career of many young boxers. Showtime is hoping that ShoXC will have the same impact on mixed martial arts.

If nothing else, the show has great timing in the sense that it feels like it’s been months since we’ve had live MMA to watch. While the card doesn’t boast any huge names, there are fighters on the card with a lot of potential. On paper, I also think the matchmakers have done a good job as far as styles are concerned.

The show will also feature the debut of Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros as an announce team. The team garnered strong fan support on an individual basis during their broadcast stints with Pride. However, they had never been on the air at the same time until this show.

Here’s my breakdown of what to watch for:

K.J. Noons vs. Edson Berto – This fight could prove to be a sleeper in the mold of Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher. You have two lighter weight guys with strong striking backgrounds.

In the case of Berto, he also has a strong ground game and is notorious for tapping guys with his heel hook. Berto is a true mixed martial artist and it boggles my mind why more people don’t talk about him. If he was in UFC, people would be drooling.

As for Noons, he’s a hell of a boxer who had a buzz surrounding him heading into his fight against Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett during EliteXC’s debut show on February 10. Bennett caught Noons and dropped him cold and Noons hasn’t fought in an MMA bout since (he competed in a pro boxing match, and won). This is his chance to regain some of the momentum he lost after losing to Bennett.

If Noons gives up boxing and focuses solely on MMA, he could be a star because his boxing is unreal. We didn’t get a chance to see it vs. Bennett but hopefully we’ll get to see it Friday.

My prediction is that Berto will win in the second round via submission.

Jeremiah Metcalf vs. Jaime Jara - This match was originally supposed to be a rematch between Metcalf and Aaron Wetherspoon in a bout that would unify the Gladiator Challenge and King of the Cage welterweight titles. However, Wetherspoon is injured and pulled out of the fight yesterday.

Stepping in for Wetherspoon will be Jara, a 37-year old tough as nails fighter who took the fight on next to no notice. Jara is the Gladiator Challenge middleweight champion and has also held the GC heavyweight and light heavyweight titles in the past. He has to cut to fight at 185 lbs. and now is faced with the task of cutting to an agreed upon match weight of 175 lbs. That dude’s life must have sucked the last few days.

Jara is a good wrestler who has worked hard to improve his boxing. He’s fought Rashad Evans (lost), Carter Williams (won), and Anthony Ruiz (holds three wins over him) so he won’t be feeling any pressure fighting for Showtime.

There’s been some talk that the match could be title vs. title but I don’t see how the state of California would allow a 170 lbs. title be on the line against a fighter weighing in at 175 lbs. We’ll have to see how this plays out.

Metcalf is a 26-year old freestyle fighter who trains with Gene Fields out of Team Voodoo. He’s a very well-rounded fighter who has good Greco-Roman wrestling skills. He’s going to be giving up a lot of size to Jara so who knows if he’ll be able to utilize those wrestling skills.

Metcalf has great cardio so his best bet may be to keep the fight standing and try to wear Jara down since he’s coming into the fight on short notice.

I’m going to pick Metcalf by unanimous decision. If Jara had more time to prepare, the outcome would be different.

Aaron Rosa vs. Jefferson Silva – Watch out for Jefferson Silva! He has a K-1 background and trains with Mario Sperry out of Brazilian Top Team. He’s a rangy Muay Thai striker with some Jiu-Jitsu training that has star potential written all over him. The only thing that is holding him back is his conditioning.

That could be a problem for Silva because Rosa has been a sparring partner for Tito Ortiz for Ortiz’s last two fights. His conditioning is excellent and he has a lot of heart.

Rosa likes to stand up but he’s got some ground skills. If Silva has top position and gets sloppy, Rosa will be a threat to triangle him.

These two will stand and trade early and if Silva doesn’t take Rosa out early, we easily could see an upset. In spite of that possibility, I’m still picking Silva to win the fight and come out of the show with a lot of people talking about him.

Muhsin Corbbrey vs. Lee Gibson – Besides Silva, Corbbrey is the other fighter on this card that people need to watch out for. I’m really impressed with him as he’s a smart guy who is extremely competitive.

Corbbrey is a professional boxer who has competed in professionally in Muay Thai as well. Don’t stereotype him though because he’s not just a striker. He also competes in grappling tournaments and has won events such as NAGA and ISCF. He trained Jiu-Jitsu with Lloyd Irvin and now works on his ground game with UFC fighter Din Thomas.

Gibson is a tough dude who is a former Army Ranger and served 16 months in Iraq as a private security contractor. He splits his time between Kansas City and Las Vegas. He works in KC as a fireman and trains MMA in Vegas with Tony Fryklund.

Gibson just recently fought for Richard Steele’s Steele Cage Promotions on July 7, defeating Talon Hoffman via TKO at 2:25 in the second round. He’s a solid fighter and Corbbrey will have to bring his A-game in order to win.

Finishing Gibson won’t be easy, which is why I am picking Corbbrey to win via unanimous decision.

Chris David vs. Scott Jorgenson - David is trained by UFC fighter David Terrell out of the Nor Cal Fighting Alliance. He has a record of 8-5-1 and is a perfect 3-0 when fighting for the Gladiator Challenge promotion.

David has been training in martial arts since the third grade and wrestled during high school. When he first got involved with MMA he was almost exclusively a wrestler, however, he’s made strides in recent years in all other aspects of MMA.

It’s good that his stand up has improved because that’s where he needs to keep the fight in order to win. Jorgenson has much better wrestling credentials, having been a three-time All-Pac 10 selection as a freestyle wrestler while at Boise State.

I expect Jorgenson to win the fight in the first round via ground and pound.

EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw, Pro Elite CEO Doug DeLuca, and Showtime’s Senior V.P. of Sports Programming Ken Hershman were all on the call.

Here are some of the most notable developments:

- There will be a total of four ShoXC telecasts this year, including Friday’s show. The next one after Friday is slated to take place in the middle or end of August with the two other shows tentatively planned for October and December.

- The first ShoXC had been planned for December but Showtime is so excited about MMA right now that they asked for the debut show to be moved up.

- The next full-scale EliteXC show is scheduled for September 15 in Honolulu, Hawaii. It will be televised on Showtime. The main event being discussed right now is Murilo “Ninja” Rua taking on Robbie Lawler. However, Shaw made it clear at several points during the call that bout agreements have not been signed. Rua is EliteXC’s middleweight champion while Lawler is Icon Sport’s middleweight title holder. However, only Rua’s title was mentioned as being at stake.

- The rumors of EliteXC possibly buying King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, and Icon Sport were brought up. Shaw said he couldn’t comment on possible acquisitions because they are a public traded company. There was no flat denial when the question was asked. A reporter also tried to re-phrase the question in a creative fashion by asking what promotions EliteXC was interested in working with. The name of GC, KOTC, and Icon were all brought up by Shaw as companies EliteXC has an interest in working with.

My personal take is that there appears to be a lot of fire to the smoke when it comes to the rumors but I don’t have any hard evidence to support my claim.

- The Internet telecast will take place on ProElite.com but the matches won’t be held until after the Showtime show. If you’re on the West Coast or are an MMA junkie, you’ll be able to watch some early morning MMA.

- Nick Diaz is also being talked about as fighting on the September 15 card.

- In regard to Thierry Sokoudjou, Shaw said they thought they were close to a deal that Jeremy Lappen help put together. They flew Sokoudjou out for the 6/20 show and wined him and dined him. When Sokoudjou returned home he received an offer from another promotion that Shaw wasn’t willing to match. He said any deal with Sokoudjou is “off the table.”

- Shaw talked about his concerns with extreme weight cutting in MMA and hasn’t ruled out the introduction of new weight classes. He said one class they are considering is a 160 lbs. class. I think that would be perfect for Diaz.

- I asked Shaw if there was any interest from EliteXC in Frank Trigg and he said they were indeed interested.

- There are two more shows with Frank Shamrock and Strikeforce left as a part of the agreed upon settlement that allowed EliteXC to keep Shamrock on the card of their debut telecast on Feb. 10.

- Steroids were brought up. Shaw said he is concerned and spoke out against the use of performance enhancers in MMA but said he doesn’t plan to test steroids. He then said fighter safe is a concern and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of implementing testing in the future.

- When the IFL deciding to test its own fighters in ’08, Shaw sort of took what I considered to be a veiled shot. He said he wants to see how they react when a major star of theirs tests positive — if they ever get a star. Ouch. I’m not sure if Shaw meant that as an insult or if it just came out funny. It sure sounded like a shot to me. If he meant it, he should watch their program because they’ve got a lot of good young fighters on their roster now. I guess he hasn’t seen Chris Horodecki because Shaw would love to have that kid fighting for him if he saw him.

The magazine reports that Oklahoma State wrestlers and NCAA champs Johny Hendricks and Jake Rosholt are training for their MMA debuts at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. It goes on to state that Penn State All-American wrestler Eric Bradley is training with Randy Couture in Vegas as well and that he’s already signed a five-fight contract with EliteXC.

In other EliteXC related news, there’s a lot of talk right now that K.J. Noons vs. Edson Berto will headline the debut ShoXC event on Showtime on Friday, July 27 at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif.

Bennett was actually released from Marion County (Fla.) jail on Thursday morning and a flight was booked for him to arrive in San Jose in time for weigh-ins. However, he apparently hit traffic on the way to the airport and missed his flight.

“EliteXC, Scott Coker and Strikeforce almost pulled off a hat-trick but (Bennett) got stuck in traffic and missed his plane,” EliteXC’s Gary Shaw said during weigh-ins. ”‘Krazy Horse’ said, though, that Edson Berto deserves praise for stepping up.”

Bennett is still expected to be in attendance for tonight’s fights.

Everyone made weight, with the lone exception being Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, who didn’t make it at all. Edson Berto has been officially added to tomorrow’s card and will fight Victor “Joe Boxer” Valenzuela.

The issue is that no bail has been set for Bennett and independent sources claim he is expected to remain in jail until July 16.

Bennett had been scheduled to fight Victor “Joe Boxer” Valenzuela in a rematch from a controversial bout between the two several years back in the King of the Cage promotion.

If Bennett is not released from jail, Edson Berto is expected to take his spot on the card against Valenzuela.

TFN also reports that Bennett has been booked into the Marion County jail 22 times since  December 12, 1997. During the past calendar year, he’s been booked three times alone (July 23, December 22, and January 9). The charges brought against him range from drug possession to traffic violations to kidnapping and false imprisonment.

I realize people make mistakes and not everyone has clean records, but 22 times since 1997? Does EliteXC really need a guy with Bennett’s criminal history to be a part of its roster of fighters? They are really sending out a bad message by trying to secure his early release just so he can fight.